Taking control of our health: A HIMSS Europe 2018 recap

I arrived in Sitges, Spain, on Sunday at 10 a.m. After a redeye flight, I resisted taking a nap. Not that it mattered, as my hotel room wasn’t ready for check in. So any nap would have been on a bench along the beach, although there could be worse places to take a snooze.

So I stopped by the HIMSS Europe 2018 exhibitor hall, did a couple things in our booth, and then explored for a few hours. I walked along the promenade, saw historic buildings like old churches (Sant Bartomeu and Santa Tecla), stopped and had lunch, and people watched.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day with amazing sights. I wish I had more time to explore, but the evening receptions were waiting for me!

The first reception for the evening was the HIMSS Advisory Council. It was a great opportunity to network with other HIMSS partners. After the reception, my coworkers and I attended the Women in Health IT networking reception and a BBQ event. Lots of networking and meeting new contacts – all by the beautiful pool on a warm Spain evening.

What’s coming next: Health 2.0

On the first day of the show, we kept busy at our booth talking all things Hyland Healthcare. Hylanders from across Europe and the U.S. were there to support our presence. It was great seeing everyone together to collaborate, catch up, and solve business problems. The day was full of demos, conversations on how our healthcare content services solutions can help healthcare organizations, and more networking.

Then it was time for me to attend the session “From Payer to Partner: Solutions for Health Insurers.” It caught my eye because we have a variety of payer solutions and I wanted to see how the landscape differs in Europe versus our payer system in the United States. I did not realize at the time that this session was a part of the Health 2.0 track of the conference, which is where startup companies and innovators came together to explore international innovations in consumer health, patient care, and digital healthcare technologies.

It was enlightening, to say the least.

I saw innovative solutions from up-and-coming startups that will shake up the European and global healthcare scene in 2018. Preventative medicine is so important for our overall healthcare system, so I was curious to see what’s on the horizon to help us take actions to be healthier people.

The concept of the Health 2.0 sessions demonstrated how putting the patient first and practicing preventive medicine helps us be proactive with our health. For example, one of the apps I was very impressed with was called SkinVision – an app built for awareness and monitoring skin cancer. Using the app, you can perform self-checks for skin cancer with your phone.

To conclude day one, we finished out with the networking reception at the Dutch Ministry of Health Smart Home pavilion. This event was PACKED. Guests enjoyed live music, food and drinks, good conversation, and a bit of fun, of course.

Our very own Alex Haage is from the Netherlands and he likes to say, “If it’s not Dutch, it’s not much.”

Empower, inform, simplify

Day two started with our breakfast session, which was quite an international affair. Phil Colbourne, Hyland’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa Sales Leader, talked with a globally diverse group of IT professionals from Germany, France, Australia, and England. Phil led a conversation about what shifting from enterprise content management (ECM) to content services means, and how it’s important to actively use content instead of just archiving it.

Ubiquitous connectivity provides a treasure trove of data and access to information stuck in silos and opens up a lot of benefit for clinicians.

– Phil Colbourne

Phil explained how enterprise content needs to be process-aware, and enterprise processes need to be context aware. Healthcare solutions need to deliver content and image management to address clinical, financial, and operational needs to empower, inform, and simplify. It’s all about access to everything you need to make the best decisions possible.

Taking control of our health

One of the conference themes I picked up on was empowering patients to take control of their health. A keynote talked about empowering patients to become engaged health consumers.

It was all about how consumers can use technology throughout their home to essentially take control of their own health. From sensor mats to blood pressure monitoring to wearable exercise technology – it all helps with either preventive or maintenance care in one’s health.

Overall, HIMSS Europe was a fantastic event. As a team, we’re looking forward to continuing the conversations we had, and we’ll be ready for HIMSS Europe 2019 in Finland!

Amy Oliver brings nearly 10 years of marketing experience to her role in healthcare global programs at Hyland where she develops marketing programs to support the healthcare business. Amy earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications with a concentration in Marketing from Mercyhurst University. Outside of living the #HylandLife, Amy enjoys rooting on the Cleveland Indians with her husband, spending time with their two dogs, or reading a good book in the sunshine.